Portsmouth student who couldn’t read or write until she was 10 achieves A* in English

Holly Sayer received an A* in English Literature. Picture: Ben Mitchell/PA Wire

Ruth Scammell

SHE couldn’t read or write until the age of 10, but now Portsmouth student Holly Sayer has achieved an A* in English literature.

Holly also gained an A in English language in her results which totalled 10 GCSEs including two A*s, three As, two Bs and two Cs.

PICTURE PIXELATED BY PA PICTURE DESK''Holly Sayer, 16, who is dyslexic, celebrates after receiving an A* in English Literature at the ARK Charter Academy in Portsmouth, Hampshire, despite not learning to read until she was 10 years old. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday August 21, 2014. See PA story EDUCATION GCSE Dyslexic. Photo credit should read: Ben Mitchell/PA Wire EDUCATION_GCSE_Dyslexic_122215.J

The 16-year-old, who studied at Charter Academy in Portsmouth, now has her sights set on becoming a film director.

She said: ‘I feel just a little bit chuffed, I think the hard work has most certainly paid off.

‘I didn’t learn to read and write until I was about nine or 10-years-old, but that had been because I’d moved around a lot, I hadn’t really got a lot of schooling in.

‘It wasn’t until I came to this school that I was actually diagnosed with dyslexia and that’s when they took action and I had an intervention class about once or twice every week and we built up my confidence in reading.’